Double-acting gravity hinge



Dec. 8, 1953 K. KALLEBERG DOUBLE-ACTING GRAVITY HINGE Filed April 10, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l mmwulimh W/V i INVENTOR. jforae/ius fia/lefiqg HTTOR EY Dec. 8, 1953 K. KALLEBERG DOUBLE-ACTING GRAVITY HINGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 10, 1952 mmvroza.

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flTTOR/VEY Patented Dec. 8, 1953 DOUBLE -ACTING GRAVITY, HINGE Kornelius Kalleberg, Brooklyn," N.Y., assignor to American Gravity Door Closer, Inc., Massapequa Park, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 10, 1952, Serial No. 281,619

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a perfected manner of hinging or hanging a double acting door, gate or closure of any nature and the object thereof is to provide a device or this nature which when swung in either direction freely, may be set to stop at any point in the 180 degree are of its swing, and when released or returned to its original position centered on the jamb with a minimum of back swing.

The device of this invention is more advantageous than any other type of like device, since there is a minimum of cutting into the door or gate to be hung; in fact in other types it is almost impossible to use the same door or gate as a conventional door once it has been used with an ordinary double acting hinge or closer. In this instance, since there is a minimum of cutting into the stiles of the door, the device may be removed and the door hung in a normal fashion for an ordinary left or right opening door. advantageous in that there are no springs used in the device so that there are no parts which may wear inordinately; due to the simplicity of the design and operation, it does not need a trained mechanic for installation.

The device of this invention is adaptable for any institutional, residential or commercial installation which requires a freely swinging door, and it has overcome the objection of most swinging closures, to wit, the forceful backswing which wear of the moving parts of the device. Further,

this minimum of lift or drop allows for more accurate fitting at the top and bottom of the door or gate. It is also excellent for the installation of doors or closures on metal or masonry floors since it requires no installation to the floor of the opening, all of the device being attached to the bottom and top of the door or gate and the jamb; it also obviates the necessity of conventional type butts on a door of thisnature.

For a complete description of this invention, reference is made to the drawings whereintj Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in cross-section showing a door and framework in which'the door is mounted;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail side elevation largely in cross-section showing the lower swivel device;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail plan view of the lower swivel device with the door and'its parts removed;

It is also dotted outline of the door in wide open position;

7 Fig. 6 is a perspective view looking toward the door jarnb when the door is in a wide open position and the device is in the tilted position shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail exploded view in perspective showing separate parts of the lower swivel device; and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail of the upper part of the device partly in cross-section taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 1, looking toward the door iamb nearest the hinged edge of the door.

A specific embodiment of this invention is illustrated showing a hinge according to this invention used on a swinging door of the type used for kitchen doors or the like.

Fig. 1 shows a door H hinged in its frame l2, the bottom of which is made up of the floor or a sill. The door H is hinged by an upper swivel means l3 and by a lower swivel device Hi. The swivel axes of the upper swivel means and the lower swivel device are in alignment in order to provide proper swinging of the door without any jamming action. There will be sufiicient clearance allowed at the top of the door It between the door and the top section of frame l2. This clearance is necessary to allow the elevation of the door which takes place upon opening if the lower swivel device is set for automatic closing, as will be more fully explained below.

The upper swivel means i3 is a simple pin type swivel. Referring to Fig. 8 for an enlarged detail View of this swivel means, there is a pin l8 which has an enlarged head i 9. Any equivalent type of enlargement which will support the pin [8 in its positionshown, but at the sam time will allow the pin to be pushed up or raised vertically, maybe used in place of the enlarged head 19, e. g. a cross pin'or a hole and cotter pin, etc. There are holes or recesses 20 in the pin IS. The purpose of these recesses is to enable pin [8 to be raised vertically by means of any sharp instrument which may engage one of the recesses or holes 20' through a slot 2| located in the door frame,'and thereby raise the pin I8 vertically in order to release the door for dismounting. When thedoor H is in place, pin l8 projects into the top of the door. There isa p1at 22 fastened to the top of the door in any convenient manner such as by use of wood screws as illustrated in Fig. 1. The plate 22 has a hole to accommodate the pin l8, and there is a larger hole 23 drilled in the top of the door for a space to leave clearance for the lower end of the pin 8.

The lower swivel device M (Fig. 1) consists of a bracket 28 which rests on the fioor or door sill as shown in Fig. 2 and which is fastened to the door jamb in any convenient manner such as by means of wood screws as illustrated in the various figures. There is also a pin 29 which is fastened to the horizontal section of the plate28 in any convenient manner such as by means of a machine screw which passes through a hole in the horizontal section of bracket 28 as illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4. There is a plate-3E1 adjacent to the bottom of the door which is similar to upper plate 22. In the same manner as with the upper plate 22, there is a hole through plate 30 to accommodate the pin 2% with a snug yet free swivel fit, and also there is a larger hole-3i drilled in the door to make clearance fcr'the top of the pin 29. In addition, there is a roller wheel which might be any appropriate type of anti-friction device. It has been found entirely satisfactory to use an ordinary ball bearing type wheel which may be fastened to the door by means of an axle 37 which is integrally attached to the lower plate 3%]. This roller wheel 36 travels on the top edge of a track member 38 and acts as the sole support for the 1 door ll; of course, the swivel pins l8 and 25) act as guides to maintain all movements of the door, except rotation, vertical. The track member 33 is generally circular in shape and has a depression 40 in which the roller wheel 36 rests when the door is in its closed position. The track member 38 is most clearly shown in Fig. '7 and has a smooth, upper surface circular in shape which lies entirely in one place with the exception of depression 49. It is this smooth, circular surface,

as well as depression 4! upon which roller wheel 36 rolls in supporting the door H throughout its complete range of positions from wide open on one side of the door frame to wide open on the other side. which the roller wheel 36 rides, need only be finished in a smooth condition over that portion or are encompassing something over 180 degrees of the circle with the depression ti at the center of this arc. This is obvious when the location of the wheel 36 on the track with the door wide open is noted. The extent of finished surface necessary would vary somewhat with difierent types of closure having different thicknesses.

The track member 38 has an integrally formed fin M at the back thereof which has a notch 12 at the center of the fin. There is also a web 43 formed inside the circular track which fills about half of the space inside the track. There is a U shaped notch ml in the web 43 which is adapted to fit around pin 29. There is a cut-out section 65 toward the front of the track member 38 (the other side from fin M). This cut-out section is appropriately shaped to accommodate a wedgeshaped cam 50. There are three lugs 5! which areattached'to the vertical section of bracket 23 near the bottom thereof. The central lug 5i is centrally located and is adapted to fit into notch 12 in fin ii of track member 38, to prevent any lateral movement of the track member 33. Outer lugs 51 are adapted to have the edges of fin 4i slide underneath these lugs to thereby provide a hinging action for the track member 38 when the wedge-shaped member 50 ,is rotated as will be more clearly described below.

Of course, this smooth surface upon The wedge-shaped cam 59 has a pair of handles 52 which are properly fastened to, or may be integral with, the main wedge-shaped section of the cam 50. There is a web 53 which is also integral with the cam 50 and which has a hole 54 therein, adapted to fit snugly around pin 29. This web 53 with its hole 54 is so dimensioned as to cause the wedge-shaped cam 50 to rotate around directly under the circular portion of track member 38. The purpose of having two handles 52 will be made clear in the description of the operation of the complete device.

Operation operation will be clarified by considering the action of the door ii when the cam 5c is in its extreme positions, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 5. It will be noted that door it is shown in one of its wide open positions by dotted lines in this figure. Since the cam 59 is rotated to its extreme counter-clockwise position (as viewed from above), the track member 38 will be elevated or tilted so that the door ii will tend to swing back to its closed position. This will take place because roller wheel 36 will be resting on an incline, and it will tend to roll down toward the depression 4!}, where it will come to rest since this is the lowest portion of the track. Fig. 6 illustrates the action of cam 50 when rotated. counterclockwise as viewed in various plan views. It will be noted that the amount of tilting which is given to track member 38 may be varied from an extreme angle, the magnitude of which. depends on the design of the cam surface and of the track member following surface, to a position in which the track is entirely level, when cam 58 is rotated to its extreme clockwise position. Such level position is illustrated in 2 and 3. It will be noted that with cam 59 in this position and the track level, the door will remain in any position where it is placed. This is because, now that the track is level, there will be no tendency for the roller wheel to roll in either direction. Of course, the door will tend to remain closed when placed in that position due to the depression 10. Fig. 2 illustrates the level, no-tilting position, and Fig. 4 shows a tilted position of the track member 38. It will be noted that when the cam 50 is in either of its extreme positions, one of the handles 52 will be hidden the door (i. e. will be underneath the bottom edge of the door) when the door is closed. Therefore, two handles are provided so that one will always be easily accessible.

It should now be appreciated that this invention provides a smooth, quiet, gentle and positive acting means for closing a door or similar closure; the closing action being gentle tends to eliminate any over-swing and any oscillation of the door when being closed. This is still true when the tilt of the track is made quite steep because the greater the tilting action of the track the greater is the force necessary to open the door away from the closed position and hence the greater the damping action of the device.

A specific embodiment of this invention has been illustrated, but many variations will be evident to one skilled in the art and I do not wish to be limited by the specific showing. Reference is made to the appended claims for the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A double acting gravity type closure hinge for a door having a lower swivel device axially aligned with an upper swivel means, said lower swivel device comprising a swivel joint, curved track means located around said swivel joint and having a depression therein to center the closure in its closed position, anti-friction means cooperating with said track means for supporting the closure and a rota-table cam cooperating with said track means to vary the inclination of the track means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cam is pivoted about said swivel joint.

3. A double acting gravity type closure hinge for a door having a lower swivel device axially aligned with an upper swivel means, said lower swivel device comprising a swivel joint, curved track means located around said swivel joint and having a depression therein to center the closure in its closed position, anti-friction means cooperating with said track means for supporting the closure, said track means having an effective surface engaging said anti-friction means and lying in a single plane except for said depression,

and a rotatable cam cooperating with said track means to vary the inclination of said effective surface of the track means.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said cam is pivoted about said swivel joint.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said track means is circular in shape and wherein said cam is wedge-shaped and is pivoted about said swivel joint.

6. A double acting gravity type closure hinge for a door having a lower swivel device axially aligned with an upper swivel means, said lower swivel device comprising a swivel joint, circular cam cooperating with said track means to vary the inclination of said eifective surface of the track means, said track means being hinged about one edge, and said track means also having a complementary recess to accommodate said wedge-shaped cam so that the effective surface of the track means may be horizontal when the cam is in one extreme position.

'7. A double acting gravity type closure hinge for a door having a lower swivel device axially aligned with an upper swivel means, said upper swivel means comprising a vertically disposed pin the axis of which constitutes the swivel axis of the upper swivel means, recesses in the surface of said pin for engagement by a sharp instrument to eifect longitudinal displacement of the pin, said lower swivel device comprising a swivel joint, curved track means located around said swivel joint and having a depression in the track means to center the closure in its closed position, anti-friction means cooperating with said track means for supporting the closure, and a rotatable cam cooperating with said track means to vary the inclination of the track means in order to adjust the speed of closing from zero to a desired maximum.

KORNELIUS KALLEBERG.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 607,728 Barnick July 19, 1898 1,009,125 Zempliner Nov. 21, 1911 1,318,824 Alary Oct. 14, 1919 1,446,449 Carpenter et al. Feb. 2'7, 1923 

